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The Daily Mail – December 27

Look what happened to Neville Longbottom! Matthew Lewis on life as a Hogwarts graduate

Harry Potter actor Matthew loved his character but hated the costume

As Neville Longbottom he was forced to wear a fat suit and false teeth

While many of his co-stars were devastated to see the end of the Harry Potter franchise, which they had filmed for more than half of their young lives, Matthew Lewis was not broken-hearted.

Although fond of his on-screen alter ego Neville Longbottom, Matthew is glad to see the back of Neville’s fat suit, false teeth and sticky-out ear moulds.

‘I already knew I was not the best looking guy in the world, but when you are a teenager, and someone is making you look so much worse — and in front of millions of people — it is quite hard to take,’ he says.

‘I hated the fat suit the most. When I was ten, I’d started off looking like Neville — but as I got older, I got taller and slimmed down, so they made me wear this suit. God, I hated it.’

Just how different Matthew looked from his alter ego became clear when he showed up at the final London Harry Potter premiere, looking more classically handsome than any of his co-stars.

‘Most of us in the Potter films have had to start again,’ says 23-year-old Matthew.

He has already been on TV in the successful drama The Syndicate, and has just finished his first post Potter film, Wasteland. ‘Like Harry Potter and everyone at Hogwarts, I’m still learning,’ he smiles.